Joe McCo

Renegades come home and wallop the titans 15-2
For the first time since 2015, the Renegades prepared to play in front of their home crowd. The Woburn Host Lions would play host to the biggest beep baseball tournament in New England’s history. The first opponent, the New Jersey Titans. THe titans came into this match with a 2-1 record in the Beast of the East with a walk-off loss at the hands of the Long Island Bombers. The titans were fired up at the start and when Deshaun Widener scored in a ball hit to the right side which Larry Haile could not find, he was jumping and rallying his team from the first base bag. Coach Weissman voiced his displeasure with the defensive play as they had been working this play for the past two weeks in practice. Next up was Alfonso Harrell who also hit a ball to the right side in similar fashion. This time the L Train laid out and made the play to the joy of his coach. WHen Marvin Morgan stepped into the box, many if the Renegade coaches were in awe of how large a man he is. They were excited to hear he worked out for NFL teams before losing his sight. Morgan made contact with his big swing and launched a ball i to deep left by a diving Joe McCormick. The titans led 2-0 and were very pumped. that lead would be short lived. christian Thaxton hit a hard line drive up the middle for a run. Joe McCormick (in his first at bat of the year) then grounded a ball to the left side and nearly missed the base as he grazed it with his foot for the 2nd run. Larry Haile then hit a hard grounder to the right side on the 2nd pitch. shawn Devenish drilled the first pitch to the left side for a run. After a two pitch at bat resulted in an out for Rob Dias, Guy Zuccarello stepped to the plate. He lofted a 41 ft pop up down the first base line and legged out a run. Thaxton would then hit the first pitch for a pop up to the left side and quickly the Renegades held a 6-2 lead. THe Titans were feeling the pressure. Rodriguez and Bordely would stirke out to lead off the 2nd but when Widener came back to the right side in his at bat…the L train liad out again and made a stop. Two innings, two stops and a run for Larry…a good start indeed. Shawn Devenish would lead off the bottom of the 2nd with a blast into left field that went by everyone. Shawn also ran by the bag. The ball was hit so far, he had time to stop, tun around and come back to the base and score. Rob Dias then scored on a line drive up the middle to bring Guy Zuccarello to the plate. Guy hit a line drive into left field but he missed the base and was not as fortunate as Shawn and was put out, earning the pink blindfold. Thaxton would hit a bomb into left field and Haile would plate another run as well. With Two out Devenish came back to the plate and hit a weak pop up to the right side and took off for first base. This time he plowed it over and to the surprise of his coach, he exhibited some speed on this play. Weissman roared with delight! After two innings the score was 12-2 and The Titans were done, as they were now very quiet. In the bottom of the 3rd, Guy Zuccarello hit another hard shot into left and as he approached the base with his shiny new pink blindfold, he slowed up and was put out. Thaxton would score his 4th run of the game next on a first pitch swing. Larry Haile would then plate his 3rd run of the contest on a first pitch line drive to the right side when Weissman went to the bench. Off popped Luis Soto. Soto hit the 2nd pitch he saw up the middle and scored a run as his team erupted. then Rob “Hot Tub” Thayer came off the bench. He hit a weak grounder to the right side that went speaker down and scored. This may have been the first time that Soto and Thayer had ever scored back-to-back runs in a game. the Renegade bench was very boisterous and excited. Stick a fork in the Titans. When the dust cleared Boston had invoked the 12 run rule. As Boston rotated its defense around to finish the game, the highlight defensive play came in the 6th inning with one out. Lamont Bordley laced a line drive up the middle and Aqil Sajjad laid out for the stop. The Titans would be shut out the rest of the way. For the Renegades, this would go own as one of their best offensive outputs in team history. The team batting average for the game was .625 (4th highest in history), the Strike out rate was a low 8.3% (only 2 games in history had been better) and the margin of victory was the 2nd most in history. The game marked just the 14th time the Renegades had invoked a 12 run rule on an opponent (Though the 9th time since 2015). It was the first time the Renegades had been close to full strength all year with its starters on the field and the team looked excited to be back together

Renegades Rain bombs on the Lightning 15-2

The Lightning entered this contest with 1 win against four losses while the Renegades were undefeated in Beast of the East play. Things got ugly right out of the gate for the Lightning. With one out, Casey Bahn stepped in the batters box. Weissman and Bryan Grillo instantly looked confused. Before a pitch was thrown, Weissman informed the Lightning they were hitting our of order. No penalty would be enforced as the Renegades waived it. The Lightning would go down in order on strikes. In the bottom of the first, Boston would set some history. The bats would simply catch fire. Thaxton led off with a pop up to the center of the field and cruised for a run. Joe McCormick settled in and laced the first pitch he saw into left field for a run. Larry Haile hit a 55 foot o pop up to the right side and scored. Shawn Devenish then hit a grounder up the middle, missed the base and came back and tackled it in time to score the 4th run of the inning. Then on the very next pitch, Aqil Sajjad hit a grounder to the left side to score the 5th run in a row That was five consecutive runs on just five pitches from Ron Cochran. Justen Proctor would strike out to end the streak. christian Thaxton would come back up again and this time hit a pop up to the right side for the 6th Renegade run and the Lightning were stunned. Joe McCormick scored his second run of the inning on a grounder up the middle and then the fun would start again. Larry Haile, Shawn Devenish and Aqil Sajjad would then plate runs. When we add Joe Macs run in…Cochran threw 4 pitches in a row for 4 more runs. When the dust settles, the Renegades scored nine runs in the first inning. This represented the 2nd most runs the team had ever scored in one inning. Andre Foster would lead off the the Lightning in the 2nd inning and hit a grounder up the middle, but he would miss the base and Aqil Sajjad would make the stop. The Lightning would go down 1-2-3 to end the 2nd inning. Boston would start to rotate players in and out and would only score one run in the bottom of the second on a Joe McCormick run. Sherlock Washington got the Lightning on the board in the 3rd inning and bring the Lightning to a 10-1 deficit but the defense would show up in this inning. Justen Proctor would make two defensive stops. Weissman was applauding on the bench because of the hard work they had done at practice was paying off. Proctor made a stop on a ball hit right at him off the bat of Casey Bahn. He would then make a stop ranging to his left off the bat of Andre Foster. The bench roared in applause. Boston would deliver the hammer in the 3rd inning and put this game into the 12 run rule. Aqil Sajjad led off the frame with a line shot up the center to start things off. Justen Proctor then hit a laser into left field for the 2nd run of the inning. With two outs, the team would catch further fire as Rob Thayer hit a well struck ball into left field. If you ever watch a Renegade game, the loudest cheers happen when Thayer does something. Joe Quintanilla then came off the bench to score a run to make it 14-1. Aqil Sajjad then plated his 2nd run of the inning to cap the scoring for the Renegades, his second 4 run game in his career (his last was in 2012 vs Chicago). Though the game was out of hand and Sherlock Washington would score a run to make it 15-2, one of the most exciting moments of the game would happen with two outs in the 6th inning. Dan Johnson would lace a hard line drive up the middle. Joe Quintanilla would lay out and it would get by hum…but ranging to his left was Luis Soto to make the stop. It would be Luis Soto’s first defensive stop in his career, something the Renegades celebrate! Boston would move to 5-0 in the Beast o the East and would play in the 1/2 seed game. The Lightning would head to the 5/6 game and play Rochester. The offensive performance on the day was incredible with a lot of contact and 30 runs in just 6 innings of play with only 5 strike outs. One more game would be left to win the Beast of the East.

Beast of the east champs again, as boston downs long island 15-2

In Beast of the East play, the Renegades were 5-0 and the Bombers were 4-1 with their only loss to Boston. For the Bombers to win the Beast of the East, they had to beat Boston by more than 11 runs. In most minds, the crown was clinched before the game was played. Long Island would score two runs in the first inning on balls hit into right field. Joe Dejesus scored first on a ball that bounced away from Christian Thaxton. Alex Barrera also scored on a ball where the call from Aaron Proctor came out after it was already by Thaxton. No worries for Boston, they got them back quickly Christian led off with a dribbler to the left side and sprinted to the base for the first run. Joe McCormick was then put out by Meghan Fink (there is a running joke between Fink and McCormick that she owns him). Haile scored on a bang bang play on a ball hit down the first base line and Shawn Devenish scored on a tweener that died between the layers. Four runs on weakly bit balls and Boston led 4-2. With one out in the top of the second, Joe Dejesus laced a ball down the right field line. This time, Shawn Devenish laid out, the ball hit him in the ankles and rolled right up to his hands. It was almost text book and represented the first defensive out Shawn Devenish had made in his career. Maybe he angered the beep ball gods with this out as the wind started to really pick up and the skies went dark. Teams took cover and eventually left the fields as thunder storms rolled through. Roughly 30 minutes later, play would resume with a Chris Dejesus strike out, the 4th whiff in the first two innings for Long Island. Boston would put the game out of hand in the bottom of the second, sending 12 batters to the plate. Thaxton would get it started on a bomb into left field.. Joe McCormick would get even with Fink and score on a ball that bounced away from her. Larry Haile would score on a weak pop up beating Matt Puvogel in a foot race. Rob Dias would hit a spinning weak flare to the right side that hit the ground and spun away from the defense for the 4th run. Guy Zuccarello would loft a high fly ball over the third baseman’s head for the 5th run. Thaxton would then score the second run of the inning on a high pop fly that landed just about 80 feet, and beat it out easily with his speed. McCormick plated his second run with a hard grounder up the middle. Joe Quintanilla would be stopped on a nice hit and diving stop by Chris Dejesus on the right side for the 2nd out of the inning. Shawn Devenish would then leg out a hit that rolled under Megan Fink at 3rd base and Rob Dias would close out the scoring with a line drive to the right side. It was the Renegades 2nd time on the day it had scored 9 runs in an inning and only the third time in team history. The score was now 12-2. the defense would then become the story for the Gades. Alex Barrera led off the inning with a blast into center field. Joe McCormick ranged a long way to his left to make a huge stop in center field in the third layer of the defense for the out. That would get the Gades excited. In the bottom of the third, Boston would plate three loud runs. Christian Thaxton would hit a bomb into left field that left him giggling as he ran to first. Joe McCormick hit a hard grounder down the third base line for a run. With two out, Hot Tub came to the plate and laced what may have been his longest hit ever into right center field for a run and the 12 run rule was invoked. For the third time on the day, the Renegades would score 15 runs in just three innings. The defensive highlights for Boston would happen in each inning. In the 4th, Rookie Derrick Anderson ripped a line drive up the middle that Aqil Sajjad laid out for to stop. In the 5th, Joe McCormick would rob Alex Barrera again, this time he would nail him going toward the third base line on a deep out in the third layer. Joe Yee would also make a fine stop on an over shift against Braulio Thorne on the right side in the third layer to end the 5th inning. In the 6th, the front line made some nice stops. Justen Proctor stopped Jim Hughes on a grounder toward the third base line which Proctor had to range for to defend. Joe McCormick also made a fine play ranging deep to his left on the first base line to stop Joe Dejesus. Boston would win 15-3 and be crowned the Beast of the East for the 7th straight time. This game also represented the largest margin if victory Boston had ever had over Long Island.